Replacing a Laptop Video Card

[viper_930]

Anybody know anything or have any experience about replacing a video card for a laptop? I'm trying to upgrade my 32 mb to 128 mb or 256 mb if possible. I know they are built in to the motherboard, and the whole motherboard needs to be replaced. I do have some soldering experience, so can i just buy the video card part, unsolder the old one, and solder in the new one? Please enlighten me.

 

[ricky1863]

not all laptop video cards are part of the motherboard a lot of the newer ones are a card that plugs into the board that is the way my dell is if it is part of the motherboard then you cannot replace it you would have to replace the entire board if they offer a board with bigger video

 

[fishking]

i have a sony vaio, is possible to change the harddrive

 

[ricky1863]

yes you can replace the harddrive in a vaio all laptops have hard drives you can replace

 

[007]

What kind of computer do you want to replace the video card on? I just did it on my Dell not to long ago.

 

[autopilot]

99% of laptops the only thing you can replace or upgrade is ram and harddrive.

 

[viper_930]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop. I got it maybe about 11 months ago. Is there any way to tell, like from 'System Information', if my video card is built in or not? I have Windows XP Home if that makes any difference. And thanks for helping out!

 

[pwnag3!!]

im pretty sure with a mass producing company like dell... its all proprietary. So chances are that you wont be able to change the video card.

 

[autopilot]

I guess you can replace the video card on that laptop. But all the video cards for it don't seem to be in stock yet
http://www.impactcomputers.com/dell-...deo-cards.html

 

[viper_930]

Thanks for the link. I also did a search around the web and found I can only upgrade to 64 mb. I was hoping for at least double that, but I guess it is still better than 32 mb.

 

[pwnag3!!]

just build a desktop system.

 

[viper_930]

Maybe I should've instead of getting this laptop, but I kind'a like having it portable. I bring it to the next room to watch TV everyday, bring it on trips for movies and games, and I bring it to my friends house too. Except for the video card, it's a pretty good laptop. 3.06 ghz Intel P4 processor, 768 mb RAM, dell truemobile internal wireless card, plays DVDs and burns CDs. 40 gb hard drive, but I only use 13 gb of it.

 

[ricky1863]

viper which video card is in your laptop?

 

[viper_930]

nVidia GeForce Fx Go5200 32 MB.

 

[autopilot]

I don't think you'll see 200 dollars worth of difference by upgrading that video card. I game on my desktop my laptop is for less graphic games, internet and word processing.

 

[ricky1863]

no hes right you will not see that big of a difference are you running factory drivers or are you running detonator drivers

 

[viper_930]

I've got the nvidia drivers. I didn try the omega drivers, but didn't notice any difference.
The reason why I am trying to upgrade is because Half-life 2, Counter-Striker 1.6, and CS: Source is very laggy. You wouldn't believe how laggy, well maybe you can. The first 8 minutes of gameplay is ok, but then after that I get bad lag. Every 3-8 seconds it will lag for about 5 seconds. During that 5 seconds I run twice as slow as other people and i can only shoot maybe 2 or 3 bullets out max. Pretty annoying...
My friend runs the same game perfectly smooth with a 64 mb ATI Radeon, and his processor is like 1.8 ghz, and either 256 oor 512 mb RAM.
I upgraded from 256 to 768 mb RAM and found no difference, maxed out my virtual memory, tried downgrading video card drivers and no use.
How do I change the clocking (is that what you call it?) of my processor and video card to overclock it?
I also heard about changing the RAM speed or something in my BIOS to maybe fix the lag. How do I do that?

 

[autopilot]

Its the fact that your using a GeforceFX go video card. Laptops just don't have the video card options that desktops do. They are supposed to be made for portability.
Laptops are not good for overclocking for 1. they ussually don't have any options to do so in bios. 2 they don't have room for proper cooling needed when you overclock.

 

[pwnag3!!]

unless its an alienware laptop... nothing else is good for portable gaming.

 

[autopilot]

Sager makes pretty much same laptops as alienware... But I wouldn't buy a laptop for gaming anyways, i'd get one for battery life and protability. My iBooke does both pretty well.